Rising Tech Salaries Stymie Government IT Recruiting

A new national survey found that the government ranked 16th among 18 industries in average salaries for technology workers, FedScoop reports.

Those findings, in a survey produced technology career site Dice, found average tech salaries in the U.S. rose 7.7 percent, to $96,370.

Increased earnings in the sector were driven by upward mobility internally, as well as via changes in employers.

The government is working to hire nearly 10,000 cybersecurity positions across government, but the disparity in compensation and other benefits may contribute to the difficulty in filling those roles.

“Agencies are finding it hard to attract young tech workers – and even harder to get them to stay,” said David Wennergren, executive vice president at the Professional Services Council (PSC) and a former Defense Department CIO.

“In the absence of significant civil service reform, most agencies are still hampered by the [government’s] grade structure and salaries. Some special hiring initiatives, like thePresidential Innovation Fellows program, provide the ability to offer new employees significantly higher starting salaries, but these special programs only account for a small percentage of hires across the government. Even as their careers progress, senior executive salaries do not begin to be competitive with private sector counterparts in the tech business,” FedScoop quoted Wennergren as saying.